I fixed my nephews PS3 that had a similar problem, as soon as you turned it on it would go straight into the update only to hang about half way into updating and give an error code. There was also another person on here with the same problem and I told them how I got around this problem. You do not need to reformat the drive or loose any of your data or connect it to a computer. Check out the post here:
[http://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/34824/I+am+getting+error+code+(8002F147)+on+my+PS3#answer35863]
All I did to get rid of the error was to remove the HDD then turn on the PS3 "WITHOUT" the HDD then when you get the "missing hard drive error code" insert the HDD. Then turn off the PS3, then turn the PS3 back on and be patient just let the update run. I do not know why or how this worked but it worked for me. Good luck!!!